River Hawks Bounce Back with 9-7 Win to Even Weekend Series

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Brian Foley (Milton, Mass.) struck out three in the ninth inning as the UMass Lowell baseball team (16-20, 7-6 AE) tied the weekend series against the Bryant Bulldogs (24-12, 12-2 AE) with 9-7 win on Saturday afternoon.

“I was so impressed with our offensive approach today. Every time they scored, we answered, and we had clutch at-bats at the top and bottom of the lineup,” said head coach Nick Barese. “Luccini’s grand slam was the turning point and Proto was huge today. Then at the end, for Cam Sime and Brian Foley to shut the door like that is exactly what we needed.”

Foley earned his second save of the season while freshman James Capellupo (Hilton, N.Y.) improved to 4-2 on the year. Freshman Alfred Mucciarone (Franklin, Mass.) got the start and went 4.2 innings with five strikeouts. Fellow freshman Cam Sime (Pittsfield, Mass.) went 2.0 innings with one strikeout and senior Andres Hulfachor (Nashua, N.H.) came in for 0.1 innings with another strong bullpen appearance.

Graduate student Ryan Proto (Centerville, Mass.) went 4-5 to lead the offense while seniors Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) and Fritz Genther (Kingston, N.Y.) went 3-6 and 2-5, respectively. Junior Alex Luccini (Hopedale, Mass.) hit his team-leading eighth homer of the season and freshman Ryan Strand (Goffstown, N.H.) tallied another hit.

Mucciarone earned his first strikeout of the day as Ryan Proto caught a runner stealing for the first two outs of the opening frame. A groundout ended a quick first for the freshman and he then tallied his second strikeout in a scoreless second inning. Fritz Genther doubled to left in the top of the third but was left stranded.

The defense turned a 5-4-3 double play in the bottom half of the inning just before a solo home run gave Bryant the lead. The Bulldogs then scored three runs with two outs to stretch the lead to four.

Ryan Proto hit a leadoff double and junior Conor Kelly (Hopkinton, Mass.) drew a walk to put two runners on in the fourth before a throwing error would score Proto and get UMass Lowell on the board. Senior Roddy Hernandez’s (Jersey City, N.J.) sacrifice fly scored Kelly to cut the lead to two. The River Hawks loaded the bases with two outs before Alex Luccini launched his eighth homer of the season to right field to give UMass Lowell the 6-4 lead.

Andres Hulfachor entered the game with two on and two outs in the bottom of the fifth as Mucciarone finished the day with five strikeouts and four earned runs in 4.2 innings. The senior forced a fly out to end the inning as Bryant left three runners stranded.

The bottom of the order came up big in the sixth as Brandon Fish drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a bunt from Hernandez. Trey Brown’s single put runners on the corners before Fritz Genther’s RBI single scored Fish and pushed the visitors’ lead to three runs.

James Capellupo entered the game for Hulfachor in the sixth. Bryant tallied three runs to tie the game before the freshman ended the inning with a diving tag on a runner trying to steal home plate. Ryan Proto hit a leadoff single and scored on a throwing error to restore the lead for the River Hawks. Ryan Strand’s RBI single scored Kelly to give UMass Lowell a two-run advantage. With two outs, the River Hawks loaded the bases again, but the runners were left stranded.

Cam Sime took over on the mound and threw a scoreless seventh inning to keep the River Hawks in front by a pair. Both sides went scoreless in the eighth and UMass Lowell went down in order in the top of the ninth to send the game to the final frame.

With a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Brian Foley took over on the mound. The sophomore struck out three to secure the win and even the weekend series as the River Hawks improve to 7-6 in America East action.

The series finale is set for 1:00 p.m. at Conaty Park on Sunday, April 21.